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Easter Sunday has special meaning for Sveum

Easter Sunday has special meaning for Sveum

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Dale Sveum

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CHICAGO -- On Sunday, some of the Cubs players' children were looking for Easter eggs in the outfield grass. For Cubs manager Dale Sveum, Easter Sunday has a special meaning.

Twenty-five years ago on Easter Sunday, Sveum hit a walk-off homer at County Stadium to give the Brewers a 6-4 win over Rangers for their 12th straight win to start the season. That was on April 19, 1987, so technically, the official anniversary will be in 11 days.

"I actually forgot all about it until I got a few texts from the clubbies in Milwaukee reminding me," Sveum said Sunday.

In past years, the Brewers have included Sveum's homer, which he hit off Greg Harris, as part of Easter Sunday video highlights shown pregame at Miller Park. By the way, Cubs pitching coach Chris Bosio pitched 1 1/3 innings in relief in that game, played at County Stadium in front of 29,357.

The Brewers trailed 4-1 going into the ninth inning 25 years ago. Milwaukee had two on and one out when Rob Deer hit a three-run homer to tie the game. One out later, Jim Gantner walked and Sveum then connected on the walk-off blast.

Sveum has fond memories of old County Stadium.

"There were a lot of good times," he said. "That's where you grow up as a player. That's the one thing you remember, is the good times. That's the one place I got to play every day, too. Wherever you come up in the big leagues, that will always be a special place, even though there were some pretty cold days, like we know here [at Wrigley Field]. It was the same thing at County Stadium, with the wind blowing off the lake."